Applying laps to the printing cylinder of fabric printing machines



N. SOLANKO Oct. 17, 1944.

APPLYING LAPS TO THE PRINTING CYLINDER OF FABRIC PRINTING MACHINES Filed April 20, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet l IINVENTOR, J d'Z alas Jazmin Qwm ATTORNEY.

Oct. 17, 1944. $1. SOLANKO 2,360,592

APPLYING LAPS TO THE PRINTING CYLINDER OF FABRIC PRINTING MACHINES Filed April 20, 1943 ZSheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR) Ji'cfialasfahko BY 7 v AT'roP Patented Oct. 17, 1944 APPLYING LAPS TO THE PRINTING CYL- INDER OF FABRIC PRINTING MACHINES -Nicholas Solanko, Clifton, N. J.

Application April 20, 1943, Serial No. 483,731

2 Claims.

In a conventional type of fabric-printing machine the fabric while undergoing printing by printing rolls is supported by a rotary cylindrical structure comprising a cylinder, flexible fabric lapping wrapped around the cylinder and each secured thereto at its leading end, a nubber blanket embracing the lappings, the lappings and blanket together providing a yielding bed or cushion, and usually a so-called back-greige, as a thin fabric sheet, reaching around the blanket and present to receive color material that may otherwise be vagrantly deposited on the blanket and. which as the printing proceeds unwinds from a supply roll and is Wound up on another roll. The lappings should exist wrapped so as to provide a cushion or bed in which each lapping is wrapped true or without skewing and which is but of quite uniform thickness. Hence all the lappings are about the same length, as about two and one-half times the circumference of the cylinder, and they are so wrapped that the leading end of each succeeding lapping is circumferentially set back of the next preceding lapping a given distance; that is to say, regarding the perimeter of the cylinder as divided into segments of equal extent and equalling in number the whole number of the lappings, the leading end of any successive lapping is positioned relatively aft of the leading end of the next preceding lapping a distance equal to the extent of any such segment.

As the lappings have been heretofore applied the work was accomplished entirely by hand manipulation, involving, when the lappings are numerous, the employment of usually four men, two to serve the lappings and secure them to the cylinder, a helper, and a man to cause the cylinder to rotate partial revolutions so that on each pause in the rotation the leading end of a lapping may be secured to the cylinder, which means also loss of considerable time to complete the work and insure that the lappings are applied so as to obtain the required uniformity in thickness of the ultimate cushion and avoidance of any skewing or wrinkling of the lappings.

According to this invention the wrapping of the cylinder with the lappings can be accomplished by a very considerable saving of labor and time and also so that each lapping is wrapped unerringly true, or without skewing, and without being subjected to localized distortion or tension stresses and other conditions that are only avoided by considerable skill where the wrapping is performed in the usual way.

Having a fabric printing machine including, as one rotary element thereof, said cylinder and also a rotary cylindrical roll element, said elements being journaled on parallel axes and peripherally opposed to each other and coactive to clamp and the rotation of one of which tractively effects rotation of the other, my invention contemplates the novel method which consists in rotating at least one element until the cylinder element undergoes at least one revolution and during such revolution, and while maintaining the lappings bent in laminated state around the roll element, delivering the lappings lengthwise of themselves and in perpendicular relation and successively to the nip between said elements and from the relatively aft side of such nip and so that each succeeding lapping is entered between the cylinder element and the next preceding lapping and the spacing of the leading end of each succeeding lapping from the leading end of the next preceding lapping approximately equals the extent of any one of equal-width segments composing the whole circumference of the cylinder element and which are the same in number as said lappings, and, previously to such delivery of each lapping, securing the leading end thereof to the cylinder element.

In the drawings, V

Fig. 1 shows in side elevation and in solid lines the cylinder element and also the roll element and some of the wound masses of the lappings as the equipment would exist in practicing my method according to the example herein set'forth, the. parts shown by dotted lines being, except for those including the roll 1 and except also a certain rack to support said wound masses, con-v ventional parts of a fabric printing machine;

Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate, diagrammatically, succeeding steps in my method; and

Fig. 4 shows the resulting bed or cushion as it would appear if laid out fiat.

In a frame I is a shaft 2 or other axial support for the cylinder 3 and a gear 4, independently rotative, the gear being driven by a motordriven gear ,5 and driving a gear 6 fast to a roll I which tractively drives the cylindereither by direct peripheral contact therewith or by peripheral contact with the lappings when they become wrapped thereon, said roll being sup-ported in blocks such as 8 adjustable in the frame toward the cylinder, as by screws 9, so that roll 1 exerts pressure on the cylinder. In addition to roll 1 I preferably provide a rotary cylindrical roll IE] supported by blocks 1 I which are adjustable in the frame also toward the cylinder, as by screws such as l2, so that on the adjustment said roll coacts with the cylinder to clamp. The axes of the rolls are parallel with the axis of the cylinder. The rotation of one of the elements formed by the cylinder and roll ID, as here the cylinder, effects rotation of the other as an incident of the tractive effort which is incident to the pressure. The printing rolls are not shown but will as usual be more or less all to the right of the vertical central plane of Fig. 1. At I4 is a rack in which are to be supported the wound masses a of lappings a, of which latter there are eight shown in the present example.

In performing my method according to such example the cylinder element is rotated as per the arrow in ,Fig. 1 until at least one revolution thereof is completed (though, as will appear, such rotation will usually be intermittent, or in partial revolutions alternating with pauses), the roll element It] also rotating due to the traction, though of course in the relatively reverse direction. Meanwhile the lappings are successively delivered to the nip or bight a between said ele-- ments and from the aft side of the nip-that is,- from the side thereof toward which any peripheral point on either element approaches the nip. With respect to any of the lappings, which it will be understood has parallel long margins, the delivery is made to be lengthwise of said margins and hence of the lap-ping and in perpendicular relation to the nip, or the line coincident with a plane itself coincident with the axes of both elements and this is accomplished by holding the wound mass of such lapping in stable parallel relation to the nip during the delivery, as by supporting said mass in the rack l4 opposite the perimeter of the cylinder element. Having thus delivered the first lapping to the nip the second lapping, with its wound mass now made to be supported as indicated above, is delivered to the nip but so as to enter between the cylindrical element and the first lapping, and this latter procedure is followed with respect to each succeeding lapping and the next preceding lapping; and so on until all the lappings have been applied. The delivery of the lappings to the nip is accomplished, as shown by Figs. 1 to 3, so that the deliveries respectively coincide with radii y of the cylinder dividing its circumference into the same number of segments as there are lappings to be applied and all of the same extent; in other words, so that the spacing of the leading end of each succeeding lapping from the leading end of the next preceding lapping shall approximately equal the extent of any of equal- Width segments composing the whole circumference of the cylinder element and which are the same in number as said lappings. Previously to the delivery of each lapping to the nip its leading end is secured to the periphery of the cylinder element in some way, as by cementing it thereto, for which purpose the rotary progress of the cylinder element is desirably arrested to permit the delivery and such securing.

Of course, when the delivery of all the lappings is completed the cylinder is rotated so as to complete the wrapping thereof throughout their whole lengthwise extent wherefore the bed or cushion they provide would have, as usual, the formation shown by Fig. 4, where the same is seen in the state it would have if it were laid out flat. The wrapping of all the lappings being thus completed the mentioned blanket may be made to embrace the same and then the backgreige may be applied.

- It is noted that where, as in the present example, the lappings are supplied from wound masses thereof such masses are positioned in the rack, or otherwise made to become supported, in the order of succession of their indicated deliveries to the nip and in an order in which any mass, positioned after another, is positioned relatively aft of the position of the latter relatively to the direction of rotation of the cylinder; thus, in

this example the masses being ultimately all in an upright row, any mass except the lowest one is, relatively to the direction of rotation of the cylinder element, aft of the one below it. Hence the deliveries and securing of the laps to the cylinder are effected with the maximum facility.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The method of applying the lappings to the periphery of the rotary cylinder element of a fabric-printing machine including such element and a rotary cylindrical roll element peripherally opposed to each other and having their axes parallel and being coactive to clamp and the rotation of one of which tractively effects rotation of the other which consists in rotating one such element until the cylinder element undergoes at least one revolution and during such revolution, and while maintaining the lappings bent in laminated state around the roll element, delivering the lappings lengthwise of themselves and in perpendicular relation and successively to the nip between said elements and from the relatively aft side of the nip and so that each succeeding lapping is entered between the cylinder element and the next preceding lapping and the spacing of the leading end of each succeeding lapping from the leading end of the next preceding lapping approximate-1y equals the extent of any one of equal-width segments composing the whole circumference of the cylinder element and which are the same in number as said lappings, and, previously to such delivery of each lapping, securing the leading end thereof to the cylinder element, and, during such delivery, supplying said lappings respectively from freely rotative wound masses thereof while supporting such masses in stable parallel relation to said nip.

2. The method of applying the lappings to the periphery of the rotary cylinder element of a fabric-printing machine including such element and a rotary cylindrical roll element peripherally opposed to each other and having their axes parallel and being coactive to clamp and the rotation of one of which tractively effects rotation of the other which consists in rotating one such element until the cylinder element undergoes at least one revolution and during such revolution, and while maintaining the lappings bent in laminated state around the roll element, delivering the lappings lengthwise of themselves and in perpendicular relation and successively to the nip between said elements and from the relatively aft side of the nip and so that each succeeding lapping is entered between the cylinder element and the next preceding lapping and the spacing of the leading end of each succeeding lapping from the leading end of the next preceding lapping approximately equals the extent of any one of equal-width segments composing the whole circumference of the cylinder element and which are the same in number as said lappings, and, previously to such delivery of each lapping, securing the leading end thereof to the cylinder element, and, during such delivery, supplying said lappings respectively from freely rotative wound masses thereof while supporting said wound masses in stable parallel relation to said hip and, in the order of the delivery of their respective lappings, so that each is relatively aft of the position of the mass next precedingly so supported.

NICHOLAS SOLANKO. 

